1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for receiving bulk material and for dispensing the material to fill containers with the material, and more particularly but not by way of limitation, to an improved apparatus for filling bags with sand.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the formation of temporary or permanent barricades, bags filled with sand or the like have found extensive use, such as in the damming of water during flood stages. However, the uses of such bags are very extensive, and are not restricted to just emergencies. For example, in oil field construction, sand bags are used to form the banks of slush pits and the like.
Whether the use of sand bags fills an emergency need, or whether the use is a routine construction job, there are at least two considerations in most such uses of sand bags. First, once an acceptable source of sand is found, the bagging equipment should be readily movable to a site in near proximity to the source. Secondly, the bagging apparatus should be able to bag a large number of sand bags at a high rate for the simple reason that it usually is necessary to produce a very large number of sand bags in a relatively short time of operation.
An example of a prior art bagging apparatus is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,346, issued to Garden. The Garden patent teaches a bagging attachment for the rear end of a dump truck. A hopper receives sand from the truck and delivers the sand to plural bagging chutes while the hopper is constantly vibrated. An auger is used for distributing the sand transversely in the hopper.
While generally successful, the operation of the known prior art devices varies significantly with the quality of the sand available. For example, the sand may contain foreign objects, such as rocks, roots, or other unusable materials. Further, although the term "sand" finds frequent use, this term is used to denote many forms of generally loose dirt or soil. Therefore, the sand may contain varying amounts of clay or other tacky substances that tend to hold the bulk sand together in large clumps or masses.
Finally, the amount of moisture present in the sand will greatly affect the operation of the sand bagging apparatus, as moisture will usually tend to cause clogging difficulties with the known prior art devices. It is not unusual at any given location to dig deeper than just the relatively dry surface sands, and in doing so, the moisture may increase considerably. In any event, the weather conditions often have a notable effect on the moisture content even when a shallow dig is used.